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John Beaumont (poet)
English |occupation = poet |notable_works = Bosworth Field}} Sir John Beaumont, 1st Baronet (?1582 - April 1627?) was an English poet. Life Beaumont was born at Grace Dieu Manor, Thringstone, in Leicestershire, the second son of Sir Francis Beaumont, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Anne (Pierrepont). The playwright Francis Beaumont was his younger brother. The deaths of his father (in 1598) and of his elder brother, Sir Henry Beaumont (in 1605), made the poet the head of this brilliant family: the dramatist, Francis Beaumont, was his younger brother. John went to University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire on 4 February 1596/1597, and entered as a gentleman commoner matriculated in Broadgate's Hall, later Pembroke College. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1598 or 1600, but when his brother Henry died he is thought to have returned to Grace-Dieu to manage the family estates.Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 228.George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume II, p. 5. He began to write verse early, and in 1602, at the age of 19, he published anonymously his Metamorphosis of Tabacco, written in very smooth couplets, in which he addressed Michael Drayton as his loving friend. He lived in Leicestershire for many years as a bachelor, before eventually marrying Elizabeth Fortescue (died aft. 16 April 1652), daughter of John Fortescue and paternal granddaughter of one of the only two married daughters of Sir Geoffrey Pole and Constance Pakenham. The family were Roman Catholics. Beaumont and his wife were fined for recusancy in 1607, and in 1625 he was again in trouble on that score.Skillington, Florence (4 October 1971). "Sir John Beaumont of Gracedieu" They had four sons, the eldest of whom, another John, was considered one of the most athletic men of his time. The younger John Beaumont edited his father's posthumous poems, and wrote an enthusiastic elegy on him, but was himself killed in 1643 at the Siege of Gloucester. Another of Beaumont's sons, Gervaise, died in childhood, and the circumstances of his death are recorded in one of his father's most touching poems. The elder John Beaumont's major work is a poem in twelve books, entitled The Crown of Thornes, which was greatly admired in manuscript by the Earl of Southampton and others. Though lost for centuries, scholars have established that a long poem in twelve books contained in a British Library manuscript was indeed Beaumont's lost major work. After long retirement, Beaumont was persuaded by the Duke of Buckingham to return to society; he attended court and on 31 January 1626/1627 was made the 1st Baronet Beaumont, of Gracedieu, in Belton, County Leicester, in the Baronetage of England. Shortly afterwards, he died intestate and his estate was administered on 3 January 1628/1629. His son, John, succeeded him as baronet. The new Sir John published in 1629 a volume entitled Bosworth Field; with a taste of the variety of other Poems left by Sir John Beaumont. Writing Beaumont's favoured medium was the heroic couplet. Bosworth Field, the scene of the battle described in Beaumont's principal poem, lay close to the poet's house of Grace-Dieu. He always wrote with a remarkable smoothness, which marks him, with Edmund Waller and George Sandys, as one of the pioneers of the classic reformation of English verse. Recognition Beaumont was buried on 19 April 1627 at Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. His grave is unmarked.Francis and John Beaumont, People, History, Westminster Abbey. Web, July 11, 2016. Beaumont's poems were included in Alexander Chalmers's English Poets, vol. vi (1810). An edition, with memorial introduction and notes, was included (1869) in Dr AB Grosart's Fuller Worthies Library; and the Metamorphosis of Tobacco was included in JP Collier's Illustrations of Early English Popular Literature, vol. i. (1863). His poem "Of His Dear Son, Gervase", was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse (1215-1900)."Of His Bear Son, Gervase". Arthur Quiller-Couch, editor, Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900 (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1919). Bartleby.com, Web, May 4, 2012. Publications Poetry *''The Metamorphosis of Tabacco. London: Felix Kingston, for Iohn Flasket, 1602. *''Bosworth-field: With a taste of the variety of other poems, left by Sir Iohn Beaumont, Baronet, deceased (edited by his son). London: Felix Kingston, for Henry Seile, 1629. *''Bosworth-field: A poem; written in the year 1629''. London: H. Hills, 1710. *''The Poems of Sir John Beaumont, bart.]'' (edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart). Blackburn, Lancashire, UK: privately published, printed by C. Tiplady, 1869. *''The Shorter Poems'' (edited by Roger D. Sell). Turku, Finland: Åbo Akademi, 1974. Play *''The Theatre of Apollo: An entertainment written in 1625'' (edited by W.W. Greg). London, F. Etchells & H. Macdonald, 1926. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search result = au:John Beaumont 1627, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 27, 2016. See also * List of British poets References External links ;Poems * "Of His Dear Son, Gervase" *"The Shepherdesse" *Sir John Beaumont at Poetry Nook (10 poems) * Sir John Beaumont at PoemHunter (13 poems) ;About *Beaumont, John (1583-1627) in the Dictionary of National Biography *Sir John Beaumont (1583-1627) at English Poetry, 1579-1830 * Original article is at "Beaumont, Sir John" Category:1583 births Category:1627 deaths Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of England Category:English Catholic poets Category:English poets Category:English Roman Catholics Category:People from Coalville Category:17th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets